Vitamin E beneficial in dementia
維他命E 對失智症有益

An elderly Iranian Jewish woman walks in a room designated for Alzheimer patients at the Iranian Jewish care home for the elderly in Tehran, Iran on Nov. 28 last year.一名伊朗猶太長者去年十一月二十八日走在伊朗德黑蘭的一處伊朗猶太長者照護中心內的一間阿茲海默症病患專屬病房。

Photo: AFP照片：法新社

A daily dose of vitamin E could help people with dementia, research suggests. A study in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease on high doses of vitamin E had a slower rate of decline than those given a dummy pill.

They were able to carry out everyday tasks for longer and needed less help from carers, say US researchers.

In the study, 613 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease received either a daily dose of vitamin E, a dementia drug treatment known as memantine, a combination of vitamin E and memantine, or placebo.

Changes in their ability to carry out everyday tasks — such as washing or dressing — were measured over an average of two years. The study found participants receiving vitamin E had slower functional decline than those receiving placebo, with the annual rate of decline reduced by 19 percent.